The present invention relates to a system for positioning and retaining removable tubular elements suitable to be fastened to a boat hull, such as safety tubular elements, and a method therefor.
A pneumatic tubular element is known to be fastened to a boat hull by gluing (in order to create a so-called R.I.B., Rigid Inflatable Boat); the removable clamping of this tubular element by inserting shaped parts of the removable tubular elements in linear guides longitudinally running, either partially or totally, along the boat hull is far less common. On the one hand, the inflatable removable tubular element extending along the boat hull flank is aimed at increasing the safety, stability and floatability of the boat, and on the other hand at preventing possible collisions of the boat against the dock, or other boats while docking, which may damage the hull.
There exist a whole family of rigid-keel pneumatic hulls having a number of advantages and a few drawbacks compared to the rigid hulls.
As to linear guides, they normally follow the surface development of the hull, and accordingly they have a bended or rectilinear run, and are usually manufactured in metal or composite materials, separately from the hull to be consequently made integral with the latter by mechanical clamping means, such as screws or rivets, or by glues.
The preferably concave configuration of the linear guides engages with the shaped parts of the tubular elements, the removable assembly of the latter to the boat being thus facilitated by inserting them when deflated and inflating them later.
However, due to the stresses and vibrations to which these guides, and accordingly the corresponding clamping means, are subjected while the boat is moving, the guide-to-hull fastening usually does not remain unchanged over time, thereby causing a mutual disengagement of the parts, sometimes also deriving from a breakage of the latter.
The material of the hull forming the anchoring support or the guide material can be poorly compatible with the glues employed, or rather they may not carry the mechanical clamping means. The external environment conditions to which the guides and the hull are normally subjected, such as the presence of sea water, are further factors contributing to this guide-to-hull fastening becoming poorly resistant over time.
Furthermore, clamping the guides to the hull involves that the former, without removable tubular elements, will protrude from the hull, thus being a potential colliding surface, and besides this, a protuberance unattractive for the boat users.